A cosmos of chef-turned-entrepreneur meets coder-turned-entrepreneur meets realities of life.
2.75/5 The .75 for Kaushambi and Vishal.
Jignesh Vasavada
Well the good times for Gujarati cinema for the year 2019
seem to have begun rolling. With a good film last week, this week too appears promising,
not to mention, the coming few months. However, there are miles to go in few
departments.
What is heartening is that film-makers are experimenting,
with styles and genres. Dhunki is one such experiment, slightly late in time,
yet not too late.
- The Film begins with a lot of people to thank. Just too many.
- Why Why do these actors not wear seat belts or wear helmets, why? (Or am I too paranoid/hopeful).
- Deeksha Joshi has 5 clearly visible moles, 2 lightly visible ones and one highly invisible mole on her face.
- ISRO just did not have to spend so much for a moon surface landing, this movie offers a lot of space on the heroes’ faces.
- Daaru is injurious to health, even in Mount Abu, so relieved.
- English subtitles of Gujarati movies are a huge distraction. I learnt, Dadagiri is Bossiness.
- Just because it is a movie about a chef does not give you a reason to forget your manners, never talk with food in the mouth.
- Looks like Radio Industry is truly throwing up good actors and rich bosses, RJ Ankit (the firing boss), RJ Aarti (the tycoon boss), Chirag Tripathi (the non-hiring boss), wow, good cameos.
- Daaru Peene Dhingli thai jay chhe! What a line, Loved it.
- It will always haunt me, you go to an investor to seek 1 million of funds and have no plan on hand!!
But before that, the story.
Nikunj and Shreya, colleagues in a digital firm, quit based
on a goof-up and follow their passion of opening a food delivery start-up. Nikunj’s
wife (kaushambi) and Shreya’s fiancé (Vishal) keep giving them reality checks
even as they duo struggle to keep their passion up and running. Looking at the
clever trailer, we are sure how this will end for the protagonists, however,
there promises to be some twists. The way the movie ends, it is good.
But can someone please tell me, why does the story need to
have so many close-ups? Extreme Close-ups? With a weak story line and average
sub-plots, there is just no scope for any kind of facial expressions, then why
did Anish and his DOP adopt this classical line of film-making. Beats me, even
as I count Pratik’s nose hair, get irritated by Deeksha’s every interfering
hair-line, Dr Vishal’s ear (I assume he is an ENT surgeon). Why! Why!
Also, I am confused. Is this film about food? Then where are
the array of very well shot extreme close-ups of dishes? Only three dishes,
Dal-fry, some non-veg dish with cream and something else? Why? If it was about
an app, then why focus on a chef? And if it was about a start-up then where is
the marketing plan, the passion, the ‘Real Disappointment’. To be fair, there
is a lovely sequence of investors giving gyaan, not money. Very relatable.
Yes, there are some really good sequences, emotions,
connects and attempt at humour. Once in a while you also feel the pain, you
relate to incidents (home selling, struggle for jobs, at jobs). But all in all,
had some more hard work gone into the story and detailing, I am sure, this
movie would have been more gripping. Ditto, the pace, it is sometimes too slow,
sometimes just ok, but never takes off.
Anish Shah’s directorial debut is commendable. But he just
needs to get more story oriented and practical. Among the actors, Kaushambi and
Vishal score high, a truly commendable task considering they were number 3
& 4 in the cast. Kaushambi looks and acts fresh and confident while Vishal
does a great job of a MCP. Pratik is a natural, but I feel is more of a package
than just a face. Extreme Close-Ups spoil the plot. Complete opposite stands
for Deeksha, who does not get too many emotions to show her strength. Her
Extreme Close-ups are futile.
Music by Siddharth Amit Bhavsar is fine, Niren Bhatt’s
Urdu-Gujarati lyrics are good but not catchy.
All in all a truly good urban effort. Definitely worth a
watch, worth spending your weekend. Dhunki times for Gujarati cinema are here.
Pics Courtesy Dhunki Promotions
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